The present invention relates to a transferable enamel sheet consisting of a carrier film, a release layer applied thereon, a paint or enamel layer, and an adhesive layer.
Such enamel sheets for enamel paint touch up work on motor vehicles have already been suggested in British patent specification No. 1,232,971. These known sheets provide a carrier film onto which is applied a release layer consisting of 23 parts nitrocellulose, 80 parts solvent, 2 parts plasticizer and 10 parts alkyd resin. After curing of this release layer, a nitrocellulose enamel is applied to that layer, which again, after curing, is provided with a standard pressure-sensitive adhesive. As described in this specification, the enamel sheet produced in this manner can be trimmed as required, placed on the motor vehicle with the adhesive coat facing downwards to cover the damaged painted area and adhered to it by means of applying pressure. Concerning this enamel sheet, the release layer remains facing the outside, while the front side is arranged below it.
Sheets of this type, however, have not been accepted in actual practice. For example, original automotive enamel paints cannot be used in accordance with the proposed method. So-called decalcomania materials disclosed in Dutch patent specification No. 123,093, consist of a transparent or translucent carrier film onto which characters are printed by means of the screen printing method. Such characters are suited only for indoor applications, such as marking of drawings or advertising materials.
Other similar transferable materials are also known, which are transferred under pressure applied for example by the tip of a pencil or a ball point pen as disclosed in German publication of the examined application 1,546,568 or German publication of the examined application 1,219,831; in the first case, however, the sequence of the layers is not as that described for the initially mentioned transferable enamel sheet. In the second case it is only important to so match the printing ink and the adhesive that a precise alignment with the base surface to be provided with the characters is possible when transferring the characters.